But what will China do when the verdict is handed down and they likely lose in large measure, as is widely expected?

Beijing has several options — laid out below for your reading pleasure — and most are all bad not only for Asia as a whole, but especially so for Washington, considering it is a treaty ally of Manila and the only party with the capability to reign Beijing in if a crisis occurs:

1. The least likely option – China does nothing and de
facto accepts the ruling: What if Beijing simply issues the standard
boilerplate statement, declares the South China Sea essentially its
sovereign waters, and moves on? This isn’t a bad option on the surface —
China could continue to build on its fake islands in the area, turning
them into small military bases armed to the teeth with...